Dexter: Resurrection – A Masterpiece Crime Thriller Series on Paramount+

This newly released crime thriller series on Paramount+ has earned the right to be called a masterpiece – after just seven of its ten season 1 episodes. Not only is it one of the best new shows of summer 2025 available to stream right now, but it just may be one of the absolute best crime thriller series of the entire year.

This show, with a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 94%, is remarkably the third spinoff series based on a celebrated original series on Showtime that won 4 Emmy Awards. While the original series remains iconic, with a handful of the best seasons of the 11 total installments, this latest effort is arguably the best season of the entire TV franchise, hands down.

Dexter: Resurrection Is One Of The Best Crime Thrillers On TV

Even though Dexter: Resurrection has released only seven of its 10 episodes so far in its first season, the series has exceeded expectations in just about every perceivable way.

After a couple of messy finale episodes in the original series and in the franchise’s first sequel series, Dexter: New Blood, showrunner Clyde Phillips and his creative team have finally gotten it right in the best possible way.

When Dexter: Resurrection was first announced at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, most Dexter fans were hesitant about getting excited about it after New Blood’s divisive ending.

The name Resurrection itself is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek franchise joke after Dexter was essentially brought back from the dead in the writer’s room to make another sequel series a reality.

The saying “all’s well that ends well” has certainly applied to Resurrection season 1 thus far, which features Michael C. Hall’s iconic performance as Dexter Morgan in uncharted territory under the bright lights – and dark shadows – of New York City.

Things heat up when a ghost from Dexter’s past, from when he used to work for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst, comes back to haunt him for his past sins.

To really get the most out of Dexter: Resurrection, the original series, as well as New Blood, is required viewing. While it’s not one of those shows you can really go into blindly, the payoff of Resurrection is incredibly rewarding for longtime Dexter fans and those who take the time to enjoy the original series.

There’s even a prequel series, Dexter: Original Sin, that was released at the end of last year, proving that the Dexter franchise that began in 2006 is not only still alive but thriving.

Resurrection Is On Track To Be Even Better Than Dexter’s Original Series

While there are still three episodes of Dexter: Resurrection season 1 left, many fans are already considering this second sequel series to be a peak for the franchise. It has deservedly garnered comparisons to some of the all-time greatest seasons of the Dexter original series, including the unforgettable and Emmy Award-winning fourth season featuring John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer.

As a longtime Dexter viewer who was very disappointed by the original show’s finale and underwhelmed by New Blood, it’s astounding that Dexter: Resurrection has consistently been able to feel just as good as the phenomenal first half of the original show.

With each new episode of Resurrection, I’m proactively expecting something to happen that will knock Dexter fans off this lofty cloud of excellence. After seven thrilling episodes, it still, somehow, hasn’t happened.

Resurrection not only makes for great entertainment, but it also thoughtfully develops Dexter Morgan’s character in intriguing and natural ways. This series was not made to squeeze every last drop out of the beloved franchise (at least not entirely).

Instead, it was brought back to life with a passionate vigor to rewrite not one, but two, so-so endings while also adding new fascinating developments to Dexter’s character, particularly in regard to fatherhood. Ultimately, if you’re not watching Dexter: Resurrection this summer, you’re missing out on a truly rare and admirable feat in television.

Dexter: Resurrection’s Stacked Cast Perfectly Uses Its Guest Actors

Part of the sheer fun of Dexter: Resurrection is its absolutely stacked ensemble cast, which includes Peter Dinklage, Uma Thurman, Neil Patrick Harris, Krysten Ritter, Eric Stonestreet, David Dastmalchian, David Zayas, and more. The volume of great characters adds to the rich and layered plot, making for intriguing storylines across the board.

Resurrection’s stacked cast could have easily just been a marketing shtick to get people to subscribe to Paramount+ and check out a few episodes before being disappointed by a swift corporate rug pull.

Thankfully, all the big-name actors are used incredibly well and aren’t deceptively underutilized. Meanwhile, several of the original series cast members, such as Hall, Zayas, and James Remar as Dexter’s father, Harry, add magnificent doses of authenticity and nostalgia.

The best part about Resurrection for true Dexter fans is not only how it keeps the story going while evolving the titular protagonist, but it also reveals new details and context that answer unresolved issues and lingering questions from the original series.

The fact that Dexter: Original Sin and Dexter: Resurrection are set to run for multiple seasons and can bounce off each other is another fantastic reason to get excited about the future of the Dexter franchise once again.